A Norse polytheist walking with Sigyn

I’ve been appalled and horrified, but not necessarily surprised, by the events this past weekend in Charlottesville. It’s as if the general public is waking up to the insidious destructive nature of white supremacy here in the US. I feel like it’s a drum I’ve been beating for several years now, and many other Heathens have been beating it much longer–they’re here! they’re destroying our culture and our religion! they’re destroying US, Americans, as a people, Heathens and Christians and Jews and Muslims alike! And it’s a tiny bit of a relief to finally hear from public figures that they see this too, and that they, too, are horrified. Or at least most of them are. (Our president the laughingstock is another matter entirely.)

I’ve been reading FB and news sources and other people’s blogs to the point that I’m actually getting physically nauseous most of the day, every day…

I was feeling quiet and contemplative this month and I think this video reflects that. I also finally got the Santa Fe incense to burn nicely. I really love this brand but sometimes I have a hard time keeping the blocks lit.

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My mind has been quite occupied with several projects I have going on here at home (I’m helping out a local temple with some complicated sewing work) in addition to the rapidly-approaching Many Gods West. One session is prepped; the other still needs a bit of tidying up. I’m also preparing to start work at a house reader at a local metaphysical shop, so I’ve been making lots of marketing material for that. Oh, and I’ve been producing the Santa Muerte prayer cards! They’re now in the shop and ready to ship.

Lughnasadh posts have been trickling into my dash and feed for the past two weeks or so, but I wasn’t really feeling doing anything in particular. I wrote last year that I’m just off compatibility enough that Gaelic People don’t really stop by and I don’t see a point in forcing certain holidays. The Dublin Irish Festival mentioned last year isn’t as much of an option this year.

((Reminder that it’s here in Ohio. Dublin, OH is above Columbus which is itself an hour’s drive one way. As our capital and the closest big city, Columbus holds a special place in traffic torture for us. Add in how traffic can change with the Festival (parking) and Pelotonia happening this weekend, the last place we’d want to be is up there.))

Anyways, I didn’t have any sort of plan about doing anything for my Irish bio dead at the start of August. And then I ran into a pleasant surprise Wednesday evening, the 2nd, when my family turned on PBS to watch our usual 8 – 9 pm slot. There’s usually a documentary of some sort (we let ourselves be surprised by the topic each week), and this time it was the 2-hour long Ireland’s Wild Coast (link takes you to free video).

I’ve been sitting on a request since January of this year (7 months and counting) to include treating my body as a shrine in my path. I’m not new to the idea, and I’ve seen some people who mention this in relation to self care on my tumblr dash before, but I haven’t quite gotten to a full scale implementation. There wasn’t one sole reason for this, tbh, but it’ll help to bring seemingly unrelated debt and requests together I think.

[Text post from tumblr user @dattebayo-basa: my body isn’t a temple, it’s a condemned building covered in prophecies in the form of graffiti. my soul is a shrine made of garbage and neon and i am holy, hallelujah. (Source.)]

I decided to share a pc spell I created back in 2014. I’ll be slightly updating the linked to spell (not a direct copy+paste of directions). Pictures are near the end.

HP context: Avis creates a small flock of yellow canaries, and Hermione practiced this spell while trying to cheer herself up (Ron drama). Oppugno causes conjured objects to attack, which is how Hermione sicced the canaries on Ron. I took Avis in direction of cheering yourself up and offered a part two with Oppugno attacking with these cranes.

— Note: Any sized paper can be used to fold a paper crane as long as you first get a square, including 8.5″ x 11″ printer paper. A shade of yellow paper is a nice reference to the canaries, but I personally used a yellow writing utensil on white printer paper to make the same reference.

1: If you’re not working from an already square piece of paper like origami paper or a post-it, make sure the paper is square (or things get wonky while folding).

— Tip: You can imagine tearing away whatever has you down while tearing off the excess paper.

2: Write on your paper something that has made you happy in the past, will cheer you up now, or that you are looking forward to (future happiness).

— Personal note: I stuck very close to writing in the center and kept my writing short and to the point, so that I could fold the crane and keep the writing on the inside.

3: Fold a crane. (See instructions above.)

4: Draw or write something on the wings. This can be the word ‘happiness’, or a sigil you create, or even a smiley face.

— Tip: If you don’t want to deal with the curvature of the final wings, you can pause in folding to do this (the larger downward facing triangle in step 14 of the above directions will become the top of your wing).

5: If you haven’t already puffed out the crane so it can sit on its own, do so now. If you have, just sit it upright on its own. Say, “Avis”.

You can stop at one crane or keep going. Store the cranes for as long as you’d like. I’d personally thank the cranes before disposing of them, but you do you. Disposal methods vary for each person, but I’d consider recycling for this.

Optional: Storing the cranes. Some people like to keep folded cranes in jars, but I listed hanging supplies for a mobile as a reference to the original spell. You can fold and hang one crane at a time to raise your spirits over several occasions, or you can fold several and hang them all at once.

Note, YMMV: This spell will eventually lose its charge if you’re storing the cranes (for me, this set in 6 months to a year after creation (I never took this with me during college, so I don’t know the exact time it lost its charge)). I’d personally create a sigil that can act as a battery recharger, in a manner of speaking, if I were redoing this spell.

(An old webcam picture)

When I did this, I wrote “Avis” on each wing of the largest crane at the top, and each descending crane has a letter on each wing. I changed this up by saying, “Avis” before folding the first crane and after folding the last smallest one, and I wrote everything out on the wings after connecting the cranes.

As I mentioned above, I used white printer paper and a yellow writing utensil, but I also happened to have some yellow balloon string. The top crane is the size of the first and largest square from printer paper, and the rest of the cranes are the same size and from the strip of paper at the bottom (from the trimming stage of the first crane). The smaller cranes are connected to the largest with thread I had on hand.

The following is a compilation of shots from a photography assignment (hanging in a different location than the webcam).

Sometimes, I just watch shows on tv a bit randomly, like, the trailer seemed interesting, or it’s on a channel I watch with my family already. We’d been seeing trailers for From the Ashes a documentary on Nat Geo that looks at America’s relationship to coal, so we went ahead and gave it a shot tonight (9 – 10:30 pm with no commercials).

I wasn’t expecting this weird ache to set in. On the one hand, I definitely support efforts to reduce carbon emissions and not fuck over our planet. On the other hand, I can feel this sense of sadness. My dad’s side is from coal country in PA, and coal was pretty much the only job source in that town. It sucks that small, often rural towns that lost their peak job source years ago feel like they’re getting the short end of the stick. It hurts that townspeople get stuck with the shitty side effects of pollution and water contamination. Mostly, I don’t want Appalachia to get fucked over by the transition to renewable energy (thanks, Appalachian Regional Commission).

So, instead of just sitting through an informative documentary, I got hit with some ancestor feels and reminded of how gray this issue can be.